Apparatus for boring artificial limbs.



J. J. McCANN. APPARATUS FOR BORING ARTIFICIAL LIMBS.

APPLICATION FlLED 050.31.1917- Patented Feb. 18, 1919.

3 SHEETSSHEET I In era/5'02;

.I. I. McCANN. APPARATUS FOR BORING ARTIFICIAL LIMBS.

APPLICATION FILED 05031. I917- Patented Feb. 18, 1919.

a SHEETS4-SHEET 2.

777 12? affor m: mm, PKYERS coy. ma na. wunmworv.

J. J. McCANN.

APPARATUS FOR BORING ARTIFICIAL LIMBS. APPLICATION FILED 050.31. I917.

1,294,684. Patented Feb. 18, 1919.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

an anrrr rare.

JOHN J. MCCANN, OF BURLINGTON, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN J MCCANN COMPANY, INCORPORATED, OF BURLINGTON, NEW JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR BORING ARTIFICIAL LIIVIBS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 18, 1919.

Application filed December 31, 1917. Serial No. 209,647.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN J. MoCANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Burlington, in the county of Burlington and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Boring Artificial Limbs, of which the following is a specification.

One object of my invention is to provide apparatus which will quickly and smoothly bore or hollow out artificial limbs so that the thickness of the wall of the hollowed portion will be substantially the same throughout the depth of said hollowed portion.

Another object is to so construct my invention that the wall of the hollowed portion, as above described, can be made of any desired thickness and will be ofsubstantially the same strength throughout the depth of the hollowed portion. Thus by the assurance of an even thickness of Wall, the wall can be made comparatively thin without danger of any weak points occurring therein. y i

A further object is to make my invention of a durable and comparatively simple construction so that it can be easily operated.

, These objects, and other advantageous ends which will be described hereinafter, I attain in the following manner, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of a lathe having my improved apparatus thereon,

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of certain gaging and guiding means which form a part of my present invention.- I

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents the frame of a lathe which has a bed 2 provided with longitudinally extending ribs 3 on its top, said ribs being spaced apart and providing guides for apparatus herein: after described. A rotatable head chuck 4 is adapted to engage one end of and rotate the article 5 which, in the present instance, represents a wooden artificial limb which is to be bored. The end of the artificial limb 5, which is opposite the head chuck 4:, is supported by a bearing 6 which is substantially ring-shape and made in two sections 7 and 8 (see particularly Fig. The sections 7 and 8 are hinged at 9 and a pivoted bolt 10 is adapted to clamp the two sections together. Each of the sections 7 and 8 has arms 11 forming guides for bars 12 which have anti-friction rollers 13 at their inner ends adapted to engage the outer surface of the wooden limb 5 and thereby support the latter during its rotation.

As shown in the drawings, the wooden limb 5 hasbeen previously turned on its outer surface and the function of the apparatus of my present invention is to bore or hollow out the interior of said wooden limb so as to make the same of light weight and also to provide room for any joints or the like which are required to be afterward attached.

The bars 12 are adjustably movable by hand-operated screws so that the anti-friction rollers 13 can be moved into various positions to accommodate artificial limbs of various diameters.

A carriage l5,hereinafter termed the primary carriage, is adapted to slide longitudinally of the bed 2 along the guiding ribs 3 and power can be applied to move this carriage in said direction in the usual manner from a front driving shaft 16 or by means of a hand wheel 17 which has a gear 18 operatively connected thereto, said wheel being adapted to engage a toothed rack 19 on the front face of the bed 2. The carriage 15 on its upper surface has two rails 20 spaced apart, each rail having a central rib 21 projecting upwardly therefrom and extending transversely of the bed 2'.

A secondary carriage 22 is mounted above the primary carriage 15 and has two rails 23 of a construction similar tothat of the rails 20. The rails 23 are secured to the lower surface of the secondary carriage 22 and have their central ribs extending downwardly. Two roller chains 24 are provided and are interposed between respective rails 20 on the primary carriage 15 and rails 23 on the secondary carriage 22, the arrangement being such that the central ribs of the rails engage the rollers 25 of the chains. Thus the chains form an extended rollerbearing for the secondarycarriage on the primary carriage so that the secondary carriage is movably supported on the primary carriage and is free to move transversely of the direction of movement of the primary carriage on the bed 2.

A table 26 is pivotally secured at 27 to the top of the secondary carriage 22 and a bolt 28 on the secondary carriage extends througha slot 29 in the table 26 so that sald table can be secured to the secondary carriage 22 in various pivotal positions. The table 26 has standards 30 which provide bearings for a rotatable boring rod 31 which extends beyond the carriages and table and has a cutter 32 thereon which is adaptedto cut into the end 33 of the artificial limb 5, in a manner hereinafter more fully described. The table 26 also provides a support 34 for an electrically driven motor 35.

A driving belt 36 operatively connects a grooved pulley 37 on the motor shaft 38 with a pulley 39 on the boring rod 31. A

bracket 40 is adjustably secured to the top of the table 26 by a bolt 41, said bolt extending upwardly from the table 26 and through a slot 42 in the bracket 40. The bracket 40 at one end has a bearing 43 in which is slidably secured a bar 44, the means for securing said'bar within the bearing 43 in the present instance being illustrated in the form of a set screw 45. One end of the bar 44 has a threaded stem 46 of an arm 47 extending therethrough and nuts 48 and 49 are provided on said stem 46 for adjusting the position of the stem 46 transversely to the length of the bar 44. One end of the stem 46 is bifurcated and this bifurcated end forms a bearing for an anti-friction roller 50 adapted to engage the outer surface of the artificial limb 5.

To hold this roller 50 in contact with the outer surface of the artificial limb 5, I preferably provide a chain 51 which is secured at one end to the secondary carriage 22 and at its other end is provided with a weight 52. The chain 51 passes over an idler roller 53 so that the weight always moves the secondary carriage and with it the table and anti-friction roller 50 so that the latter is in constant engagement with the outer surface of the artificial limb 5 during the operation of the apparatus;

In the operation of my invention, when the lathe is started, the head chuck 4 and shaft 16 are rotated. and the motor 35 is started to cause. the rotation of the boring rod 31 and cutter 32. This action causes the primary carriage 15 to move in a direction towardthe, head chuck 4 and with it to move the boring. rod 31 and the cutter 32 so that the latter engagesand cutsinto the end 33 of the artificial limb 5. Due to the rotation of the latter, the cutter cuts deeper and deeper into the artificial limb due to the movement of the primary carriage 15, as above stated. At the same time the anti: friction roller 50, by engagement with the outer surface of the artificial limb 5 and the action of the weight 52, causes the movement of the secondary carriage 22, table 26, boring rod, 31, and cutter 32 so that the latter cuts in a path parallel with the outer surface contour of the artificial limb 5, in other. words the cutter 32 cuts in a path prescribed by the contour of the outer surface of the artificial limb 5, the thickness of the wall of the boredportion being determined by the relative position of the bracket 40 on the table 26 and the position of the anti-friction roller 50 relatively to the bar 44. Thus the wall of the bored portion is maintained of the same thickness throughout the depth of the bore and it will be understood that the anti-friction roller 50, arm 47 bar 44, and bracket 40 constitute gaging means for controlling the cutting position of the cutter 32.

By the apparatus above described I can secure an extremely accurate bore of an artificial limb even though the outer surface of the artificial limb is of an extremely irregular contour and I am assured of the evenness and constancy of the thickness of the wall of the bore portion no matter how long the limb is.

By having the table 26;pivotally mounted on the secondary carriage and by having the cutting elements supported on saidtable, the cutter is enabled to followextremely irregular contours since the boring rod 31 can be extended at various angles with respect to the axis of rotation of the artificial limb 5.

It will be noted that the bearing 6, which supports the end 33 of the artificial limb 5, is adjustably secured by lugs 54 to the bed 2 so that it can be slid longitudinally along the guiding ribs 3 to accommodate artificial limbs of various lengths, Furthermore, the ring-shape character of the bearing 6 provides an opening through which the bar 44 is free to move longitudinally, as is also the arm 47 and anti-friction roller 50'so that there is no obstruction to the guiding means.

Certain of the construction illustrated in the drawings and not claimed in this application forms the subject matter of my 00- pending application for United States Patent filed December 31, 1917, Serial No. 209.646.

While I have described my invention. as taking a particular form, itwill be understood that the various parts of my invention may be changed withoutdeparting from the spirit thereof, and hence I do not limit myself to ,the precise construction set forth, but consider that. I am at liberty tomake .such changes and alterations as fairly come within the scopeflof the appended claims."

Havingthus describedmy invention, what I claim as new and desire to" secure by Let.- ters Patent is:

1. In apparatus of the characterdescribed forboring out; the inner portions of an article from one end, the combination of means for rotating said article; av primary carriage movable toward and from said article; a secondary carriage movable in conjunction with sa1d primary carriage and also movable transversely to the movement of said primary carriage; guiding means rigidly secured to said secondary carriage and having a portion for engagement with the outer surface of said article; and means also supported by said secondary carriage for boring said article, said guiding means being of such rigidity that variations in the outer contour of said article during its rotation will move the guiding means to impart a similar movement to the secondary carriage and to consequently impart a similar movement to the boring means, substantially as described.

2. In apparatus of the character described for boring out the inner portions of an article from one end, the combination of means for rotating said article; a primary carriage movable toward and from said article; a secondary carriage movable in conjunction with said rimary carriage and also movable transverse y to the movement of said primary carriage; a bracket adjustably secured rigidly to said secondary carriage; an elongated bar on said bracket; an arm supported by and movable in conjunction with said bar and having means for engagement with the outer surface of said article; and cutting means supported by said secondary carria e for boring said article, said bar being su ciently rigid that variations in the outer contour of said article during its rotation will move the bar to impart a similar movement to the secondary carriage and to consequently impart a similar movement to the boring means, substantially as descrlbed.

3. In apparatus of the character described for boring the inner ortions of an article from one end, the com ination of means for rotating said article; a primary carriage movable toward and from said article; a secondary carriage movable in conjunction with said primary carriage and also movable transversely to the movement of said primary carriage; an elongated bar rigidly connected to the secondary carriage and having means thereon for engagement with the outer surface of said article between its ends; and cutting means on said secondary carriage adapted to bore into the end of said article, said bar being of such rigidity that variations in the contour of the outer sur face of said article during its rotation will move the secondary carnage through the medium of said bar to impart a corresponding movement to said cutting means, substantially as described.

4. In apparatus of the character described for boring an article, the combination of means for rotating said article; a primary carriage movable toward and from said article; a secondary carriage movable in conjunction with said primary carriage and also movable transversely to the movement of said primary carnage; an elongated bar rigidly secured to said secondary carriage; a follower carried by said bar at a position remote from said secondary carriage; cutting means on said secondary carriage adapted to bore into an end of said article; and a bearing having portions for engagement with the outer side surface of said article Within its length and having a central opening through which said latter end of the article projects, said bearing providing an opening to permit said bar and follower to move therethrough due to the movements of said carriages, substantially as described. 7

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN J. MoCANN.

Witnesses:

MARY A. INGLAR, CHAs. E. Por'rs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

